The Things I Do for Money, Part 1

I've been making crafts since I was very little--I can't even say for certain how old I was when I started.  My mom always had craft supplies around, and she let me use the ones that were appropriate for my age--nothing sharp till I was old enough to handle it carefully!

As a teenager, I made seed bead necklaces to sell.  I probably only made enough money to keep buying more beads, but at least I was having fun.  I actually still have one of the necklaces I made back then, and it's not half bad!  My knots could have stood some improvement, but it was all around a pretty nice necklace.

A few years ago, I decided that I needed some sort of hobby that I could do while I watched TV and movies.  I asked a friend's mom to teach me to knit, as I knew she was also crafty.  She told me that she didn't really know how to knit, but she'd teach me how to crochet, if I wanted to learn that instead.  I agreed, and she taught me the basics... sort of.  I ended up not really learning correctly, and I didn't realize this for several months.  At that point, I managed to re-learn, though I still have some odd crocheting quirks that other people just marvel about.

So then I had huge piles of crocheted hats, which were the one thing I got really good at making, even when I couldn't quite crochet correctly.  I started selling these at local craft fairs, but discovered that these only happened around Christmas, and weren't necessarily the greatest venues through which to sell my crafts.

Right before Christmas last year, I decided that I really needed to check out Etsy.  I had heard about it in passing on assorted craft sites, but I never really checked it out.  Once I got started on Etsy, there was almost no turning back.  I learned so much about selling crafts, both online and in person, and was thrilled to be able to sell my stuff year round, rather than just at limited times of the year.

My Etsy shop will be a year old at the end of November.  While I wouldn't say that I'm a huge seller on Etsy, I have a lot of fun with it, and it's helped me to meet some really fun people.  In fact, some of the first new people I met when I moved were women that I met through Etsy!

So if you're interested in seeing some of "the things I do for money" (which, by the way, is the title of a song that I love), you can see my Etsy shop here: Scary White Girl Designs.